Millennials and the changing employer-employee relationship

Do you also subscribe to the notion that people under the age of 34 are immature, coddled, and self-obsessed? No, I don’t buy it. It is very okay to have a team of smart, socially-conscious, hard-working, and collaborative young people. Just don’t hire other types of people, regardless of age.

Even though data show that Millennials are more likely to switch jobs than their Generation X colleagues, and that they’ll weigh flexible work schedules and work-life balance as heavily as they do salary, it still doesn’t strike as entitlement, though. Unprofessional deeds and immaturity strike more as the reasonable response to the world we live in.

After Youth Service in 1991, I read job ads in newspapers, and circled interesting ones using a physical pen that actual ink came out of. I made phone calls on a phone that was connected to a wall. I had to stand next to the phone during these phone calls, due to cord length limitations. Sometimes people returned my calls and left messages that were stored on a tape in a device that sat on a table. Eventually, I landed a job at Magnum Gold Advertising, and later Centrespread FCB, complete with a fine salary and something known as “a pension.”

And now, it is now. Even the most passive job-seeker, with just the lightest click of an opt-in, can watch 50 open-position postings fill their inbox in a single day, each with an application and resume up-loader only one more click away.

Balancing the ease with which one may browse countless career options, though, is the likelihood that none of those options will provide true long-term incentives, true job security, and true opportunity to purchase one’s own home and retire before one’s bones turn to dust.

In just the past five years, layoffs have hit even stalwart blue chips like MTN, Zenith, and Mobil, putting to bed any lingering beliefs that if you just loyally put your head down, lay your nose into a grindstone, and pay your dues, there’ll be pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

The deal has changed, and Millennials have simply adjusted to the new arrangement faster than employers. If we want them to choose us, to work well with us, and to stay awhile, we’ve got to catch up. Evolve or die. Time for a list:

1. Millennials are as entitled to positions of influence as anyone else

Standing in line and waiting your turn is over. Just because someone has logged more time on the job, doesn’t mean they’re better at that job or more deserving of it than a relative newb. Good leaders know this, and can distinguish between tenure, experience, ability, and potential.

2. Millennials are entitled to frequent, honest feedback to help them improve in their jobs and grow as people

Do you know what the opposite of coddling your precious young Millennials is? That is respecting them enough to provide honest, constructive feedback about their job performance.

We could all do a better job at our jobs, and I believe we’d all prefer hearing the feedback directly over having it gossiped about behind our backs. Employees new to the workforce are especially deserving of kind and honest criticism, since their first few years are inherently going to be full of…firsts. The fact that they botched some tricky particular task in your office might not be a damning character flaw or an indication they’ll never cut it, but simply a blind spot that more experienced colleagues could help illuminate. You may help by having a system built on a foundation of generosity and praise.

3. Millennials are entitled to be held accountable for the quality and quantity of their work

Face time and “first-in last-out” are relics of the old business world. Employers who worry whether employees will take advantage of flex time and remote working situations need to refocus on what actually matters. This means hiring hard-working, self-motivated people, and parting ways with folks missing those qualities. And it means setting clear goals for each employee that pertain to actual results (as against attendance, or number of hours worked), so you both know what’s expected and how performance will be measured.

Allow employees, no matter their tenure or pay grade, to work all variety of schedules, and to work virtually from all variety of locations. Have no vacation policy. As long as people get their work done, meet their deadlines, and support their teams, they take the time off they need - whether it’s a family vacation or a two-week stay at a retreat.

Your company can be well-rewarded by leading with trust, rather than expecting it to be earned, and by dealing with breaches of trust on a case-by-case basis rather than with policy. Turns out with trust and openness, employees start to solve problems that management doesn’t even realize the company has yet, and it’s really thing of beauty. 

4. Millennials, and indeed, all your employees, are entitled to feel that while they’re with your company they’re able to be the best versions of themselves

Employers that not only allow employees to do all the non-work things that give them energy and joy, but actively support them in those efforts, reap huge dividends. We talk about it as being able to “bring your full self to work” – not just your age, tribe, creed, and gender, but also your hobbies, interests, and passions. We look for people who are interested and interesting, because it makes for a richer community (and better product and customer experiences, believe it or not). 

Beyond creating a comfortable work environment, make a point to support the causes our employees believe in. If an employee is willing to organize an event for a charity they care about, give them free reign to run it and promote it. Also create a forum for employees to share about their theatre shows, distribute themed weekly music playlists, or to watch movies together during down times. 

By Amanda Lannert, CEO at The Jellyvision Lab.

Edited by ‘Dele Dele-Olukoju, Marketing Communication strategist and publisher of the online Marketing Communication Digest. He writes from Lagos, Nigeria.